HONG KONG — Hong Kong's police Monday defended their use of tear gas and other tactics to control protests that have paralyzed the city's financial district, appealing to the thousands gathered to demand more democracy to stop the unprecedented mass act of civil disobedience for the sake of safety and stability.
Crowds grew Monday evening as people getting off work joined weary-looking students camped on major roads near the city's government headquarters and in several other parts of the city. Uniformed police manned barricades and looked on, preventing access to some buildings, but did not otherwise intervene.
Police said they used 87 rounds of tear gas on Sunday in what they said was a necessary but restrained response to protesters' efforts to push through cordons and barricades. They said 41 people were injured, including 12 police officers.
"Police cordon lines were heavily charged, by some violent protesters. So police had to use the minimum force in order to separate the distance at that moment between the protesters and also the police," Cheung Tak-keung, the assistant police commissioner for operations, told reporters Monday.
Protesters donned rain capes, surgical masks and goggles, wrapped their heads and glasses in plastic and used umbrellas to shield themselves from the searing clouds of tear gas unleashed by police Sunday. Each time they fled, but returned in defiance. Late Sunday, riot police withdrew and Hong Kong's chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, issued a public appeal for everyone to go home and stop blocking traffic.
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